Key Capabilities
- IMAP-based email polling with OAuth 2.0 support for modern providers
- Advanced filtering with IMAP RFC compliant search filters
- Support for downloading full messages or attachments only
- Configurable message retention and deletion policies
Overview
The Email Receive connector provides a simple way to automate the process of receiving emails. The connector connects to an IMAP server and polls a specified mailbox for new messages to process. By default the connector only receives messages that have not yet been processed, and it supports additional IMAP filters. The connector supports receiving entire messages in EML format or only downloading attachments on the emails being processed.OAuth 2.0 configuration for Outlook and Gmail mail servers are the two most common connection configurations made in the Email Receive connector. You can access additional guides and resources for these two mail servers in the CData Community. See Using OAuth 2.0 in the Email Send and Receive Connectors.
Connector Configuration
This section contains all of the configurable connector properties.Settings Tab
Email Receive Configuration
Settings related to establishing the connection.Establish a Connection
To allow to receive emails, you must first establish an Email Receive connection. Once established, connections can be shared across multiple Email Receive connectors. There are several ways to establish this connection:- Add an Email Receive connector to your flow. Then use the Connection dropdown to select an existing connection or click Create to add a new connection.
- Open the Settings page, then open the Connections tab. Click Add, select Email Receive, and click Next.
If you create the connection this way, you must still select it from the Connection dropdown on the connector.
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Host | The hostname or IP address of the IMAP server. |
| Port | The port on which to connect to the IMAP server. Typical values include 143 and 993. |
| TLS Type | The method used to negotiate SSL/TLS when connecting to the server: STARTTLS: A plain text connection is established. Afterwards, SSL/TLS can be started with an explicit command. SSL/TLS: Negotiation occurs immediately without first establishing a plain text connection. None (Plain Text): A plain text connection is established, and no SSL/TLS is used. |
| User | The username to login to the IMAP server. |
| Authentication Mechanism | The type of authentication to use to login to the server. The options vary based on your choice. |
| Password | (Basic and NTLM) The password to the IMAP server. |
| Auth URL | (OAuth 2.0) The authorization URL for the service. This is the URL you are directed to when clicking the Connect button to log in and grant permission to the application. |
| Access Token URL | (OAuth 2.0) The URL to the access token. |
| Client Id | (OAuth 2.0) The client Id assigned when you registered for OAuth. |
| Client Secret | (OAuth 2.0) The secret assigned when you registered for OAuth. |
| Scope | (OAuth 2.0) A list of scopes that the application should have access to. |
| Callback URL | (OAuth 2.0) The URL where the service you connect to returns tokens to provide access. Services often require you to whitelist the URLs that are allowed, so this is the value to use when configuring the application registration with your service. |
- Host
- Port
- TLS Type
- User
- Password or OAuth 2.0 authentication credentials
- Mailbox
Download
Settings related to processing messages.| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Mailbox | The IMAP mailbox to poll for messages. |
| Only process new messages | Check this to only process new messages. This is usually controlled by tracking the UID of downloaded messages. If the UID values become invalid, the connector falls back to using the timestamp of the last processed message or the Days to Search setting if no messages have been processed. |
| Days to Search | The number of days to search for messages. If Only process new messages is checked, this value is only used if the connector cannot search by UID or the timestamp of the last processed message. |
| Additional Search Filters | Supply an IMAP RFC compliant search filter to append to the query that is automatically built based on the New Messages and Days to Search settings. |
| Download Type | Choose to download full messages in EML format or only email attachments. |
| Delete Emails | Check this to delete successfully downloaded messages from the mailbox. |
| Expunge After Delete | Check this to permanently delete successfully downloaded emails from the mailbox. Warning: The server might permanently delete (expunge) messages immediately, making them unrecoverable. |
Advanced Tab
Advanced Settings
Settings not included in the previous categories.| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| IMAP Headers | A comma-delimited list of headers from the IMAP message that should be promoted as metadata in the downloaded file. |
| Incoming Server Public Certificate | The public key certificate used to verify the identity of a TLS/SSL server. If the target server uses TLS/SSL, set this field to the certificate that identifies the server. If the server’s certificate is not available, you can leave this setting blank to allow the underlying OS/JVM to perform certificate validation, or set it to Any Certificate to implicitly trust the server’s identity. |
| Command Timeout (seconds) | The command execution timeout duration in seconds. |
| TLS Enabled Protocols | The list of TLS/SSL protocols supported when establishing outgoing connections. Best practice is to only use TLS protocols. SSL v2 and SSL v3 are considered vulnerable and should only be used if your partner does not support higher versions. Keep in mind that TLS v1.3 is not universally adopted, and might be refused if the destination server does not support it. |
| Local File Scheme | A scheme for assigning filenames to messages that are output by the connector. You can use macros in your filenames dynamically to include information such as identifiers and timestamps. For more information, see Macros. |
Proxy Settings
Message
Logging
Miscellaneous
Automation Tab
Automation Settings
Settings related to the automatic processing of files by the connector.| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Receive | Whether the connector should automatically poll the remote mailbox for messages to download. |
| Interval | The interval between automatic download attempts. |
| Minutes Past the Hour | The minutes offset for an hourly schedule. Only applicable when the interval setting above is set to Hourly. For example, if this value is set to 5, the automation service downloads at 1:05, 2:05, 3:05, etc. |
| Time | The time of day that the attempt should occur. Only applicable when the interval setting above is set to Daily, Weekly, or Monthly. |
| Day | The day on which the attempt should occur. Only applicable when the interval setting above is set to Weekly or Monthly. |
| Minutes | The number of minutes to wait before attempting the download. Only applicable when the interval setting above is set to Minute. |
| Cron Expression | A five-position string representing a cron expression that determines when the attempt should occur. Only applicable when the interval setting above is set to Advanced. |
Alerts Tab
SLAs Tab
Transactions Tab
This tab lists all messages associated with the connector. Use the search bar to find specific messages, or click the funnel icon to apply a filter. You can filter by tracked headers, time, and/or status.Receiving Emails
If Receive Automation is enabled, the Email Receive connector automatically polls the configured IMAP mailbox for messages to download. By default, the connector only receives messages it has not already downloaded. The first time the connector receives messages, use the Days to Search setting in the Download configuration section to specify the range of messages to download. Messages can also be manually retrieved by clicking the Receive button on the Transactions tab of the connector. The Download Type setting determines whether full messages or just message attachments are downloaded. Downloaded files are placed in the Output Folder or passed along to the next connector in the flow. When Download Type is set to Attachments, the connector adds two headers to each message:- EmailReceive-Attachment-Index: The attachment number for each attachment
- EmailReceive-Attachment-Count: The total number of attachments on the email
Search Filters
The IMAP Search Filter setting allows for further customization of the range of messages to retrieve. This field accepts standard IMAP protocol filters and only downloads messages that match the configured filters. The following filters are supported:| Filter | Description |
|---|---|
<message set> | Messages with message sequence numbers corresponding to the specified message sequence number set. |
| ALL | All messages in the mailbox: this is the default initial key for AND-ing. |
| ANSWERED | Messages with the \Answered flag set. |
BCC <string> | Messages that contain the specified string in the envelope structure’s BCC field. |
BEFORE <date> | Messages whose internal date is earlier than the specified date. |
BODY <string> | Messages that contain the specified string in the body of the message. |
CC <string> | Messages that contain the specified string in the envelope structure’s CC field. |
| DELETED | Messages with the \Deleted flag set. |
| DRAFT | Messages with the \Draft flag set. |
| FLAGGED | Messages with the \Flagged flag set. |
FROM <string> | Messages that contain the specified string in the envelope structure’s FROM field. |
HEADER <field-name> <string> | Messages that have a header with the specified field-name (as defined in [RFC-822]) and that contain the specified string in the [RFC-822] field-body. |
KEYWORD <flag> | Messages with the specified keyword set. |
LARGER <n> | Messages with an RFC822.SIZE larger than the specified number of octets. |
| NEW | Messages that have the \Recent flag set but not the \Seen flag. This is functionally equivalent to “(RECENT UNSEEN)”. |
NOT <search-key> | Messages that do not match the specified search key. |
| OLD | Messages that do not have the \Recent flag set. This is functionally equivalent to “NOT RECENT” (as opposed to “NOT NEW”). |
ON <date> | Messages whose internal date is within the specified date. |
OR <search-key1> <search-key2> | Messages that match either search key. |
| RECENT | Messages that have the \Recent flag set. |
| SEEN | Messages that have the \Seen flag set. |
SENTBEFORE <date> | Messages whose [RFC-822] Date: header is earlier than the specified date. |
SENTON <date> | Messages whose [RFC-822] Date: header is within the specified date. |
SENTSINCE <date> | Messages whose [RFC-822] Date: header is within or later than the specified date. |
SINCE <date> | Messages whose internal date is within or later than the specified date. |
SMALLER <n> | Messages with an RFC822.SIZE smaller than the specified number of octets. |
SUBJECT <string> | Messages that contain the specified string in the envelope structure’s SUBJECT field. |
TEXT <string> | Messages that contain the specified string in the header or body of the message. |
TO <string> | Messages that contain the specified string in the envelope structure’s TO field. |
UID <message set> | Messages with unique identifiers corresponding to the specified unique identifier set. |
| UNANSWERED | Messages that do not have the \Answered flag set. |
| UNDELETED | Messages that do not have the \Deleted flag set. |
| UNDRAFT | Messages that do not have the \Draft flag set. |
| UNFLAGGED | Messages that do not have the \Flagged flag set. |
UNKEYWORD <flag> | Messages that do not have the specified keyword set. |
| UNSEEN | Messages that do not have the \Seen flag set. |